Penny Simpson makes earthenware pots in her studio in Moretonhampstead, Devon. She first became interested in ceramics when working as a teacher in Japan in the 1970s. She returned to England to study pottery full time at Dartington Pottery.

Penny opened her Moretonhampstead workshop in 1983 and developed a slip decorated earthenware domestic range using brushwork and sgraffito. She believes that good food deserves a good setting, and designs her tableware with that in mind.

Penny Simpson
at the wheel

Penny draws from nature for her designs, often using themes of fish, birds or leaves. She also decorates tiles and accepts commissions for kitchens and bathrooms. The Homebase chain of do-it-yourself supermarkets recently asked her to design a range of tiles which are now on sale in their ninety-six stores.

Penny uses two electric kilns and an electric wheel in her workshop, which is above the gallery. In 1979 she wrote The Japanese Pottery Handbook.